10.14.2004

My Life In Boxes

Over the years I managed to keep the ever growing archives of my adult life in my parents' basement. However, now it all fills my new bedroom, stacked chest high and overflowing into the hall closet and living room. Going through it all in the next few months will be like a really long Christmas... rediscovering old college papers, lost trinkets, and books I forgot I owned.

So anyway, I'll be busy for a spell. And, unfortunately, I don't have web access in my new place. This means a short blog hiatus. But check in every once in a while --I might post at the library now and then til I find a more suitable arrangement.

10.07.2004

The Sundae Debacle

I took my brother to the ER yesterday morning. After having eaten at Be-Se-To, our favorite asian cafeteria, he complained that his stomach was going to burst. He thought that perhaps he had gobbled down the Korean sundae ("soon-die") too quickly.

The next morning I found him rolling around and moaning. "What's wrong? Why aren't you at work?," I asked. "I'm sick," he said, and proceeded to describe his unsavory symptoms, which I will not repeat here. Just before I was about to leave for work myself, he was crying out in excruciating pain. He had sharp pains in his lower right abdomen, and I supposed it was appendicitis. "Bro, I should take you to the hospital." He was doubled over, and looked up at me with pleading eyes, and managed to gurgle out: "Yes, would you?"

While we were in the waiting room, his pain subsided slightly (he wasn't screaming anymore). When we spoke to the physician, the doctor asked "What does it feel like?" and Jeff said, "At first the pain was localized. But now it's just a general burning."

Well, the short of it is, he got all manner of tests and they were all inconclusive. However, he didn't have a fever, and he wasn't vomiting, and various other things pretty much ruled out appendicitis. We got carried away and started imagining he had cancer or crohn's, and discussed what he would do with the last month of his life.

After ten hours or so, it was concluded that he had inflamed intestines, and he'd have to wait it out. By then the pain was much reduced, and he checked himself out. On the way home Jeff thought about all the spicy food he had eaten in the past few days. "I shouldn't have had that Kenyan goat dish," he said.